Anyone who has ever fished, unless it was strictly surface fishing, will be aware of the problem of snagged hooks and lures. Even a snagged hook can be annoying, as lead is rather expensive and the sinker often remains with the hook when the line separates, and aside from the cost factor, the re-fixing of the line is time consuming and tedious, and distracts from the joy of fishing.
When lures are used, the monetary aspects of the problem are considerably magnified. The cost of sophisticated lures is quite considerable.
In the past, lure retrievers have been developed which slide down the line and one way or another capture the lure. Some of these devices surround and grip the body of the lure, and others have hooks or other structure which engage the hooks of the lure. Some also may engage the fishing line close to the lure, although this type, of course, only insures that the bulk of the line will be retrieved.
One problem with lure retrievers is that those that are effective generally engage the hooks of the lure rather than trying to engage the body. Those that engage the hooks generally use other hooks, or grappling structure which is equally likely to engage rocks, seaweed, bottom growth or other structure or debris as to engage the hooks of the lure. This can result at the very least in failure to retrieve the lure, and at worst, losing the lure retriever in addition to the lure.
There is an need for an effective lure retriever which can engage the hooks of a lure, but which is structured to avoid the possibility of engaging other bottom debris instead.